Gluten Free Craze – Have you considered it?

One thing that makes me crazy is when I hear clients decide to follow the newest and latest fads because they have heard someone say that it’s the next “best thing” out there.
Really???

Let me take you back…back to a time, (if you are old enough to remember)to the 1990’s – when it was popular to eat low fat and high carbs. Remember that awesomeness? Yes, I do too. :p
Since then, our obesity in the US became an epidemic.

Coincidence? I don’t believe so.

Once that craziness ended, then it was all about the Atkins diet and that had been originally popular in the 70s!! Carbs became the “bad guys” as proteins and fats were the secret to our success.

Or was it?

It’s addictive to think we can just cut out one food group and live happily ever after and now this popular fad is “gluten”.

Let’s begin with what gluten even is:
It’s a mixture of proteins found in wheat, barley and rye.

It’s true that gluten can be bad for some people. But it’s not a “diet” phase in any way.

People who suffer with Celiac disease have discomfort and fatigue and gastrointestinal issues. There are other conditions were choosing to eliminate gluten containing foods can help reduce symptoms and discomfort.

This has lead to more gluten free products being sold and now, a new diet phase emerged.

People who remove gluten from their diets notice, at first, that they feel less bloated. This is usually believed to be “weight loss”, as the scale shows a drop (and why I don’t allow my clients to simply refer to the scale for success. It isn’t accurate most of the time).

Bloating can release due to the initial removal of gluten from one’s diet since it contains less fiber. Fiber attracts water for digestion purposes and this may cause some temporary bloating. Take away more fiber, take away the bloat.

This is an example of what we think is happening (IE: weight loss) is really another cause altogether (less water in the body temporarily).

Now there are ridiculous amounts of foods being manufactured as “gluten free”. I have to caution you here because manufacturers will advertise foods as “gluten free” when they had never even contained gluten in the beginning! Don’t fall for these scams!

Let’s talk about what needs to happen to something in order to make it “gluten free”- when it contains gluten. It requires heavy amounts of processing. It’s during the processing phase, that many of the vitamins and minerals are lost and leaves many foods with very little nutritional value. As fiber is now lost, many B vitamins are also lost.

Gluten-free breads now contain almost 1/3 less the amount of protein as gluten options and instead contain twice the amount of fats and that is made mostly up of saturated fats.

So should you consider going gluten-free? Only if you suffer from symptoms that can be eliminated from cutting out gluten. Not for weight loss.

What are those symptoms? Do you suffer regularly from:

Gas – Bloating – Diarrhea – Constipation – Foggy mind – ADHD behavior – Depression – Abdominal pains – Headaches – Bone or joint pains – Chronic fatigue – and some other symptoms that can be diagnosed by a physician. If you are worried about your symptoms, consult your doctor and ask them to run tests for a diagnosis. There is a blood test called the tTG-IgA that is the most accurate to date.

Otherwise, stop looking for the next food fad and eat to fuel your body and goals today!